Premiers of provinces, mayors of cities and other leaders all over the country will team up with over 80 Indo-Canadian organizations for an important “oxygen” fundraiser to procure and send critical equipment needed in India to fight the raging Covid-19 crisis. .
The virtual fund-raiser will take place on May 16 and part of those who have confirmed their participation are the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford and Premier of Saskatchewan, Scott Moe. Also, the Mayors of Brampton and Mississauga, Patrick Brown and Bonnie Crombie have confirmed their participation.
The event is being organised by the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce or ICCC, and it has so far partnered with 82 other community organizations for the Marathon – Oxygen for India fund-raiser, which according to schedule will go for four-and-a-half hours.
While talking about the fundraiser, Vijay Thomas, President of ICCC, said that the target is to raise a minimum of $2 million Canadian dollars to buy oxygen concentrators and generators that will be dispatched to India.
Thomas revealed that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and many federal cabinet ministers have also been invited to participate in the fundraiser, though they have not confirmed their participation.
He said: “We have also invited every premier from coast-to-coast and hope to get 50 Canadian leaders to join us.”
He made it known that objective is to “raise awareness among Canadians at large about the situation on India and that Canada stands by India just as India stood by Canada when it needed vaccines.”
ICCC has bought 2,000 oxygen concentrators so far with the help of its partner organizations, out of which 200 concentrators have already arrived in India, 1,500 are in transit, and the remainder are being processed.
Thomas said: “We are looking at oxygen generators for small and mid-size hospitals to power beds and have them reach as quickly as possible since time is of essence.”
